Tax collectors and sinners were all crowding around to listen to
Jesus. So the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law of Moses started
grumbling, "This man is friendly with sinners. He even eats with
them."

Then Jesus told them this story:
If any of you has a hundred sheep, and one of them gets lost, what will you
do? Won't you leave the ninety-nine in the field and go look for the lost
sheep until you find it? And when you find it, you will be so
glad that you will put it on your shoulder and carry it home. Then you will
call in your friends and neighbors and say, "Let's celebrate! I've found
my lost sheep."

Jesus said, "In the same way there is more happiness in
heaven because of one sinner who turns to God than over ninety-nine good
people who don't need to."

Jesus told the people another story:
What will a woman do if she has ten silver coins and loses one of them? Won't
she light a lamp, sweep the floor, and look carefully until she finds
it? Then she will call in her friends and neighbors and say,
"Let's celebrate! I've found the coin I lost."

Jesus said, "In the same way God's angels are happy when
even one person turns to him."

Jesus also told them another story:
Once a man had two sons. The younger son said to his father,
"Give me my share of the property." So the father divided his
property between his two sons.

Not long after that, the younger son packed up everything he
owned and left for a foreign country, where he wasted all his money in wild
living. He had spent everything, when a bad famine spread through
that whole land. Soon he had nothing to eat.

He went to work for a man in that country, and the man sent him
out to take care of his pigs. He would have been glad to eat what the
pigs were eating, but no one gave him a thing.

Finally, he came to his senses and said, "My father's
workers have plenty to eat, and here I am, starving to death! I
will go to my father and say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against God in
heaven and against you. I am no longer good enough to be called
your son. Treat me like one of your workers.' "

The younger son got up and started back to his father. But when
he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt sorry for him. He
ran to his son and hugged and kissed him.

The son said, "Father, I have sinned against God in heaven
and against you. I am no longer good enough to be called your son."

But his father said to the servants, "Hurry and bring the
best clothes and put them on him. Give him a ring for his finger and sandals
for his feet. Get the best calf and prepare it, so we can eat and
celebrate. This son of mine was dead, but has now come back to
life. He was lost and has now been found." And they began to celebrate.

The older son had been out in the field. But when he came near
the house, he heard the music and dancing. So he called one of
the servants over and asked, "What's going on here?" The servant
answered, "Your brother has come home safe and sound, and your father
ordered us to kill the best calf." The older brother got so
angry that he would not even go into the house.

His father came out and begged him to go in. But he
said to his father, "For years I have worked for you like a slave and
have always obeyed you. But you have never even given me a little goat, so
that I could give a dinner for my friends. This other son of yours
wasted your money on prostitutes. And now that he has come home, you ordered
the best calf to be killed for a feast."

His father replied, "My son, you are always with me, and
everything I have is yours. But we should be glad and celebrate!
Your brother was dead, but he is now alive. He was lost and has now been
found."

Luke 15:1-32

Contemporary English Version The Holy Bible (New York ,
NY: American Bible Society 1995)